A superb channel, thank you for your time and for your insight. Hebborn for me will always be at the top of the contemporary forger tree and his book The Art Forger's Handbook has served as a bible for my research into this fascinating topic.
I like this topic, and I like the calm & well-informed presentation. Thanks. In contrast, American-made videos have too-youthful-sounding voices (or digital voices, ugh) chirping away a-mile-a-minute as if they're addressing hyper 5 year olds, ..... each harried phrase sounding like they're sitting on a hot stove. Brits still know how to present informative talks in calm measured tones.
Indeed, it’s very nice to come across a video with calm narration and minimalistic visual aid. Thank you very much for the lecture, you have gained a new fan in me! I am from Saint Petersburg, Russia, and art has always been a big part of my life. I can find my way around the 20th century art movements, but other time periods are less known to me. Hoping to study some more with your lectures and videos!
I love forgery. Don't know why. I have made some reproductions of native American objects for museums made a copper breastplate found in an mound in Florida. Fun! The copper sheet I began with was modern and nothing could hide the modern perfect surface. I crumpled it up and flattened it with a smooth rock. The image I made using a piece of deer antler and a pointed stick. Easy to determine that the copper was not 500 years old but the rest I think would pass.
I note an upsurge in Basquiat fakes as well. As an expert in the art of Basquiat as well as a collector, the fakes are readily apparent. Further, I've seen fakes in museums, galleries, and of course ebay and similar auction sites (especially postcards)
Thank you, I took the date from this National Portrait Gallery page www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw165314/Tom-Keating-with-a-model but I think you are right as he was not charged with fraud until 1976 and made the Channel 4 TV series in the early 1980s before he died in 1984 aged 66.
Thank you. I try to avoid offering my opinion as I like to stay neutral in order to present a balanced view. A book would be too big a project for me to take on at the moment and I hope these short videos and the accompanying notes provide a condensed snapshot that is more valuable in today's hectic world.
Martin Kemp searched all over for the 15th-century book he believes the Leonardo Da Vinci portrait was ripped from; he found it in Poland PR.The painting appears to have come from a 500-year-old book containing the family history of the Duke of Milan. Art historian Martin Kemp, of the University of Oxford, believes the mystery painting, which appeared in 1998, is a portrait of the duke's daughter, created by da Vinci for her wedding book. "We knew it came from a book, you have the stitch holes and can see the knife cut. Finding it is a miracle in a way. I was amazed," There were at most four copies made, Kemp said. Aside from the copy in the National Library in Warsaw, there is a copy in London and one in Paris. Each book was custom-made and had different art and cover pages; evidence that this portrait had been "ripped" out was only found in the Warsaw book. The image was probably removed during the 18th century when the book was rebound, Kemp said.Upon examination, Kemp saw that the stitch holes from the page match up with the stitching on the book, but they aren't the only evidence Kemp puts forward. Because vellum is made from processed skins, each sheet has different qualities. The thickness and composition of this sheet matches up perfectly with the vellum from the book, Kemp said. There are also cut marks on the edge of the book. "It was apparent from the evidence we got about the vellum and the missing sheets, within reasonable margins of doubt, that's where it comes from," Kemp said. "At 500 years old, you never have as much confirmation as you like, but this is as good as it gets."
Having watched a large number of documentaries on art forgery and being an artist myself, it has thrown up a number of issues. Firstly my profound admiration for the forgers who are able to recreate works in the style of great artists (not copying existing works). It takes an incredible amount of artistic skill to do this. Secondly if these works are sold as original works by unscrupulous art dealer them more the the fool and criminals they. Thirdly, the art dealership industry is fraught with poseurs who purport to be experts but are also contributors to the art con game. I recall the John Mayatt saga where he painted a large number of "fakes" using PVA emulsion paint which went undetected. Any educated dealer would instantly recognize the difference between acrylic PVA and oil paint by the smell alone! It is really not the artist that is the criminal in forgery but those who fabricate the the provenance and pass off the art work as genuine. If some one is taken in by this and buys a fake as genuine then they must take the financial hit and only have themselves to blame for their stupidity.
wherever there's money to be made there will be those that will take risks to get it. Those that put themselves forward as experts deserve to get caught out and lose money. Well done Eric Hebborn, R.I.P.
As an artist, it's not so much whether a piece is a forgery but whether it has a 'presence'. Any sensitive artist will know. Asking art curators to judge merit is pointless...they won't know. Picking out forgeries on this basis is not so difficult. A forgery or direct copy has none of the artist's 'being' embedded in it, it's dead....no spirit if you like. It's the complete thing, the concept, the feeling, the skill, and the artist, all blended together.
Before I watch the video I can't help but weigh in on the "Matisse." There's only one thing to say about these things--it's either a forgery or the worst thing Matisse ever did.
It's sad when a painting isn't valued for its quality, but an artist's lack of quantity on the open market. Billionaires want bragging rights. "I have what you'll never have. Hahaha" mentality. I don't feel sad when they get duped by a counterfeit.
if only the forgers could make a living working on the Theme's of the Masters and then move onto developing their own creation. Perhaps, the lure of a quick financial return is their terminal fate it is indeed the final-nail in the creative coffin. In someway the greatest musicians started in a similar fashion too, you learn from the greats, that is by copying or in musical terms composing on a variation of past maestros. Mozart at an early age looked up to Franz Joseph Haydn and C. P. E. Bach, while Beethoven began his pianist creation on Mozart's theme. And yet no-one says Mozart was a forger LOL!!. There is another question that deserves a logical explanation. Musicians are allowed to re-create the music of the masters and get paid handsomely, shouldn't painters be allowed to recreate too, under their own name and make money too? Is this considered forgery? My opinion is they are NOT. Great Video
...some of them are not even at a decent level... In my view, Eric Hebborn is the only one possessing an authentic artistic sensibility, which prevents him from vulgarizing, as the others, more or less, do...
